Extinguishing The Flames Of Conformity (23.5)

"Man, are we the first to get here?" Fenix asked as both of them scanned the Level 1 access cards to enter the building, holding their breath until they were both granted access. Walking into the large white building with modern architecture, they had to admit that it looked out of place with the small, tight, civilian town outside.

Leon shrugged, "I mean, we were the only ones with a tranquilizer and the idea to knock out people right outside the building."

"It wasn't as stupid of a decision as they made it sound, was it?" Fenix asked, "I mean, look at us, we're the first ones to get inside."

"Fenix, we had to knock out twelve people because we kept getting caught and had to knock out anyone that saw us," Leon deadpanned, "I don't think that can be called a smart decision. On top of that, we're stuck here until someone gets here or we can get more access cards. Which might be a problem seeing as we knocked out twelve people, and every fucking person was an intern and had no access cards past Level 1."

Fenix nodded, "Yeah, no, okay, because we need to talk about that. How the fuck is it that the first people Mina and Owen knock out, they get a Level 3 access card, but we knock out twelve fucking people and not a single person has an access card?"

Leon sighed, "Fenix, we've been over this. Anytime the two of us team up, nothing ever goes as planned. Honestly, I'm not even surprised."

The ginger-haired boy shrugged, "You know what, that's true. Alright, how are we going to get more access cards? We certainly can't just go up to people and knock them out while in a place like this where we'd probably be heavily monitored…"

"Hmm…" Leon looked around, trying to see what he could pick up on the people around him. Suddenly, he noticed something that made him widen his eyes, "Fenix. Fenix, I think I know what we can do to get access cards."

"Share with the class, would you? I'm clueless," Fenix said, looking around. 

Leaning closer to Fenix and subtly pointing at someone, Leon spoke again, "You see that woman over there?" He asked, "She has an access card to Level 2 in the pocket of her lab coat, right?"

"Yeah, but what are we supposed to do about that? If you haven't noticed, we can't just walk up to her and ask her for it," Fenix deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

Leon glared at him, "Can you not be a little bitch for one second—You know what, I'm just going to keep going. Go over to her. Flirt with her and distract her, and when she's not paying attention, take the access card from her pocket."

Fenix choked on air, "I'm sorry, you want me to what?" He whisper-yelled.

"You heard me. Go over and flirt with her," Leon said, trying to push him. Fenix leaned back with all his weight, refusing to budge.

"What—Why?! I'm fucking gay, Leon, I don't know how to flirt with them!" Fenix whispered back to him, panicked, "Besides, why can't you do it, Mister 'I've got three people all over me'?" 

Leon blushed, "Firstly, shut the fuck up about that, secondly, I'm only dating Hyunwoo, thirdly, would you rather flirt with her or would you rather flirt with the thirty-year-old looking man over there who has the Level 3 access card, because I that's what I'm going to have to do," The blonde subtly pointed at another man towards their left.

"...Do I really have to?" Fenix asked.

"Do you want us to get access cards?"

"...Fine, I'll flirt with the woman," Fenix grumbled, "But if this goes terribly, I'm blaming you for it."

"As long as you go over there and do it, I don't mind," Leon grinned.

"And don't you dare record it."

"Aww…"

Taking a deep breath, Fenix looked over to the woman, before looking back to Leon with a pleading look on his face, "Do I really have to?" He whispered, giving Leon the looked of a kicked puppy.

"That might work on your boyfriend, but it won't work on me," Leon whispered back, crossing his arms, before his eyes softened, "Trust me, I don't want to do this any more than you do. As much as it may not seem like it, I'm not a flirt."

Fenix raised an eyebrow, "Could have fooled me, until your whole mess of a four-way relationship happened, you were a menace. I still don't know how you're the second least flirty in your chaotic polycule, by the way."

Leon looked offended, "Okay, firstly, messy four-way relationship? And secondly—Actually, who do you think is the least flirty of the four of us?"

"The fact that you know which other three I'm talking about says enough about that situation," Fenix pointed out, "And obviously I'm talking about my sister. She's got to be the least flirty of the four of you."

"...No, no, at this point, I think I'm the least flirty," Leon said, sounding almost distracted, "Your sister is second best."

Fenix grimaced, "Oh, gross, I didn't need to know that. I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Then he sighed, "I guess it is fair if I flirt with one person and you flirt with another. Fine, I'll…I'll do it."

Turning away from Leon, Fenix took a deep breath and made his way over to the young woman in the white lab coat, holding a clipboard. He put an easy smile on his face as he stopped in front of her, leaning on the table, "Hey, there," He had to stop himself from cringing outwardly, "You…Uh, you come here often?" 

Damn it, Leon, I don't know how to flirt with people seriously, why did you put me up to this—

"I'd certainly hope so, I do work here," The woman responded, raising an eyebrow and fixing her glasses, "However, I don't think I've seen you around here often."

Fenix laughed a bit, hoping it sounded less forced than it felt, "Man, I feel like I should be offended that you haven't seen a pretty face like mine. Oh well, at least you know now. Lovely to meet you," He bowed a bit, jokingly.

"Cute," The woman laughed, "You know what, I was going to shut this down pretty quick but you're actually pretty adorable," She leaned over, grabbing a paper and a pen from the table. As she did, her lab coat fell forward a bit and Fenix caught sight of a card in her jacket. As she wrote something down on the paper, he carefully grabbed the card from her pocket before slipping it into his own pocket. She looked back at him and handed him the paper, winking, "Call me after your shift ends, I'd love to get a drink or something," She patted his chest and walked off. 

Fenix watched her for a couple of minutes, and when she finally walked out of sight, he let out a sigh of relief and let his shoulders fall. He took the paper which had the woman's number and crumbled it up, throwing it into the trash, "I'm not going to need that," As he looked over to Leon, he saw him whispering something to the older man they had seen with an access card. As he paid closer attention, he noticed Leon's hand slipping into the man's lab coat pocket, taking the card and secretly moving it into his own pocket. He patted the older man's shoulder and straightened the collar of his lab coat, looking up at him through his lashes before the man walked away. 

Leon waited until the man was gone before rolling his eyes and meeting Fenix's gaze. He walked over to him, "So, did you get it?" He asked lowly.

The ginger-haired boy raised an eyebrow as he pulled the access card out of his pocket subtly, "Yeah, yeah, I got it. But how the hell are you that good at fake flirting? What did you even say to the guy?"

"Fake flirting is easy, you've just got to act like you can give them what they need. It has to do with confidence, and also a lot of luck. For example, I got lucky this time, the guy I was hitting on said he liked pretty boys, so…" Leon shrugged, tucking his hair behind his ear.

"So, what? As far as I'm aware, the only pretty boy here is me," Fenix stuck his tongue out at Leon.

"You motherfucker—"

"Anyways!" Fenix interrupted him, "What did you actually say to the guy? He certainly seemed agreeable to it."

Leon raised an eyebrow in return, "Well, what did you say to that lady? I saw her give you her number?"

Fenix groaned, "Oh, dear God, don't ask. And please do not ever make me fake flirt with anyone again, I don't think I can ever actually live through that sort of embarrassment and cringe again."

"Did you ask her if she came here often—"

"Shut up, I swear to God—" Fenix hissed, "I told you I was going to be bad at this, I warned you."

Leon snickered, "Oh my god, you really did ask her that. I thought maybe I'd misread your mouth but you actually said that. How did she even give you her number? At least I know what to say."

"Oh, yeah?" Fenix shoved him lightly, "What did you even say?"

At this, Leon pulled a face, "...Actually, I don't think you want to know."

"Oh my fucking God, did you—"

"It's not like I meant it, I was just saying things to distract him so I could get the card!" Leon was bright red, "Besides, how was I supposed to know he'd take me seriously? It's not like I'm going to actually meet up with him or something! Besides, I might have a slight preference for older guys but not that much older—"

Fenix snorted, "Did you just admit you like older guys? Leon, I think you might want to shut up, you literally are not making this any better for yourself."

Leon gave him a blank stare, "My only boyfriend is two years older than me and the other crush you know about was nine years older than me, even though that was just a passing unreachable one. Yeah, my upper limit is like, four years older than me, but I thought it was pretty obvious."

"You know what, that's actually fair."

"Besides," Leon scoffed, "If that guy is willing to cheat on his partner with the first pretty boy who hits on him, I think he deserves to be waiting outside of a hotel for a couple of hours in the middle of the night."

Fenix's eyes widened, "He's married?"

Leon nodded, "Had a wedding ring on and hid his hand the moment I started flirting with him."

"You know what, good going. Plus, he'll probably lose his job for losing the access card. Which we should get to," Fenix said, holding up the Level 2 Access card.

"Hey, you two," Leon and Fenix turned to hear a familiar voice call out to them lowly and were met by the sight of Mina and Owen approaching them. Fenix's eye immediately caught on something on Owen's neck.

Moving forward, he leaned forward and wiped the small splattering of blood on his neck and whispered into his ear, "What happened? Did you guys get caught?"

Owen simply smiled, and Fenix felt his heart beat fast as he caught a certain…Glint in Owen's silver eye, "No, nothing like that. I'll tell you later, don't worry about it. So, do you guys need some help? We've got Level 2 and Level 3 cards if you need them."

Leon and Fenix looked at each other before they pulled out the access cards in their pockets, and Fenix grinned, "Nah, we've got our own. Thanks for the offer, though," He leaned over to kiss Owen's cheek.

Mina raised an eyebrow, "Oh? How did you guys get your hands on those, hm?"

The two boys instantly turned pale.

"I think we have more important things to think about, right, Fenix?" Leon laughed nervously.

"Yeah, let's get going, see you guys later!" Fenix said, grabbing Leon's arm and dragging him off.

"The elevators are in the other direction."